Stanley Nelson (Interview)

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Stanley Nelson INTERVIEW

Interview of Stanley Nelson for Arts Today & 88.1 KDHX

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I remember when I was young, leaving my childhood home for the first time and whenever someone would ask me where I was from, I’d say “I’m from East St. Louis, where Miles is from!” So, of course when I just happened to hear about the documentary Miles “Birth of the Cool “being shown at the Tivoli, it wasn’t a question of if Jeff and I would go, it was just a matter of when? I ended up going twice. After Jeff and I got there the first time, the first person we saw was one of his musician buddies…I heard him say to my husband, “Where the Cats at Man?” First, it was great to hear straight ahead jazz musicians still calling themselves “Cats” (I like that)! Secondly, I knew exactly what he was saying…Where were all the jazz cats? The Tivoli should have been swarming with St. Louis and East St. Louis Jazz musicians paying homage to the “Biggest Cat” of them all, the man who Birthed the Cool. Miles Davis

The documentary was everything and more! Intimate input from the immediate family and close friends of Miles, I was moved to tears at times… I’ve been a study of Miles all my adult life. I will not profess to know all the stories, but the ones I know are the ones I love, and to get facts about them was epic for me. I finally got the opportunity to hear from Francis Davis, in her own sweet way…may she forever RIParadise.

The film was directed by Award Winning documentarian Mr. Stanley Nelson of “Firelight Media” out of New York. Mr. Stanley was at both screenings I attended. I was so moved by the film I just had to let him know just how much I enjoyed it. When I saw him coming my way, after the Q & A. had ended, I went for it. We were friends after the first hello. Just a cool guy, but extraordinary at the same time. You’ll see. I was able to interview him.

What I didn’t mention in the interview is that Mr. Nelson comes from history himself, his Mom A’lelia (Ransom) Nelson, was the last president of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. His father Dr. Stanley Earl Nelson Sr. was a dentist who was a pioneer in reconstructive dentistry and taught at New York University. Miles Davis’s father was a dentist too! I would suggest little Stanley Nelson Jr. didn’t have a chance, he had to be somebody great! He did not disappoint. Ladies and gentlemen the following is my interview with Award-winning documen

tarian, Mr. Stanley Nelson of Firelight Media.

I want to thank ARTS-TODAY Newszine and KDHX FM for this opportunity to share my conversation with Mr. Nelson, with all of you. Enjoy:

EDIE ANDERSON: Stanley Nelson, Edie Bee interview for ARTS-TODAY Magazine and 88ONE KDHX Beginning in 3-2-1

EDIE: Greeting Everyone! I’m your Lady Edie B. with a special guest inside the KDHX Studios for ARTS_TODAY Magazine and of course my jazz show R.S.V.P (Rare Songs, Very Personal), I am honored to welcome Documentarian, Mr. Stanley Nelson…Welcome Mr. Nelson to the show.

NELSON: Thank You so much.

EDIE: Mr. Nelson is back home in New York right now but he was recently here in town showing East St. Louis and St. Louis your documentary on Miles Davis Birth of the Cool, and I must Say Mr. Nelson when you left here last week you left as a HERO! Everyone I know who saw the film absolutely loves it!

NELSON: Well thank you that’s great!

EDIE: Yeah, and those of my friends that didn’t see it, they’re jealous and they want to see it, so…

NELSON: Okay…

EDIE: I’m glad it’s still uh, still happening. Now usually in an interview the interviewer (which is me) reads off the accolades of the interviewee (which is you), but if I did that we would be here for hours and hours and extended until the next day because Mr. Nelson you are an icon within yourself. You have many documentaries to be proud of under your belt, and I was looking through information about you, and the “Story of Access” is one of you documentaries, it examines the history and impact of racial profiling in public spaces, and this documentary was screened at a mandatory training for 175 thousand Starbucks employees across 8 thousand stores. You have got to be proud of that?

it there and you know it’s 10 minutes long it’s very short, a short little film, but um this is when Starbucks closed all their stores…

EDIE: Yeah, we’re familiar with the controversy.

NELSON: (Crosstalk) It’s on You tube, put in Stanley Nelson, Starbucks and it will be the first thing that pops up.

EDIE: Now, “Tell Them We are Rising’-The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, that is another one of your documentaries…The Black Panthers; Vanguard of the Revolution; which won the 2016 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Documentary Film. One of my favorites, “Two Dollars and a Dream” 1989 biography of Madame C.J. Walker, one of my favorite she roes (giggle) …You have many documentaries…and as a matter of fact you did one on Jim Jones, (as a matter of fact), I remember seeing that one. But this is what stuck out to me as I was researching you Mr. Nelson, and it sums up your greatness all in one short paragraph.

Edie reads from script: "Stanley Nelson is among the premier documentary filmmakers working today. Nelson, a MacArthur “genius” Fellow, awarded an individual Peabody Award for his body of work in 2016. He has received numerous honors over the course of his career including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2014, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Barack Obama.," and to me you can kind of just drop the mic after that one (giggling) I’m sure you were excited when you received that….

EDIE: (laughing) How many documentaries have you done so far with your company “Firelight Media”?

NELSON: Uhm, that’s hard to say because you know they range from, you know what do you call a doc? Is “The Story of Access” the thing we did for Starbucks a doc, only 10 minutes long, So, we’ve probably done maybe (15) fifteen or so feature length documentaries probably in my career, but as you said the first one was “Two Dollars and a Dream” which was 1989 and that was 30 years ago so, you know I’ve been around for a while doing what I do.

EDIE: Wow…Oh yes you have. Let’s talk Miles!

NELSON: Okay!

EDIE: How did the Miles project come about? Who came knocking on your door at Firelight Media and said, hey, let’s do Miles Davis.?

NELSON: Well it was kind of a bit of um knocking on our door and our knocking on other doors it was a film that we had been thinking about for a while and we talked to American Masters which is a show on PBS and they were immediately all in and then we went to a company called Eagle Rock, which is part of Universal Film out of London and they bought in too and so this one was financed by Eagle Rock and by American Masters and it will be on TBS next year in late February, but I urge everybody who can to go and see it this year.

NELSON: Yeah that was just an incredible day I was very fortunate that Obama was in the White House … (Edie giggles “I know”)

NELSON: so, I could, wholeheartedly accept the award. It was just a beautiful day you know the award was given by Obama and Michelle in the White House, and, you know they invite you to bring your family and whoever you want to bring and you kind of make a day of it.

EDIE: Now was that one of the ones they televised?

NELSON: Umm They might have, I think they did televise it afterwards…(cross-talk inaudible) but they did televise it afterwards, it was just one of those great things that (Edie: “that is so cool”) that just kind of I don’t know, it was surreal almost too me.

EDIE: YEAH (Laugh) Why did you call it “Birth of the Cool”? NELSON: UHH, You know that was one of the names of one of Miles’s first and most important albums (he made a lot of important albums) but we just thought that kind of typified Miles you know, and you know in some ways you got to call a film something (Edie laughs) I mean we could have called it “Kind of Blue” or you know “Bitches Brew” or something else, but ….

EDIE: Oh no “Birth of the Cool” sums it up yes indeed…Are you a Miles Davis fan?

NELSON: Yeah, I’m a big fan of Miles’s music my Father was a jazz fan and jazz lover and I’ve been listening to Miles kind of seeped in you know as a kid with my Father playing Miles around the house, but I’m a huge Miles fan. And yeah making the film allowed me to kind

of do nothing but listen to Miles for a few years…

EDIE: Gotta be the best assignment in the world that’s for sure.

NELSON: Yeah that part of it was great, but you know there’s also that trepidation that comes with making a film like this cause you know I’m making a film about Miles Davis you know one of the great icons and heroes of the 20 th century in so many ways, and you know, I don’t want to mess it up. (Edie: right!) There’s also that kind of tension that comes with being given this kind of opportunity. One of the things that kind of happens is that you really want to do it, you’re trying to raise the money to make this film, you’re trying to do it, you’re trying to do it…and you finally get the finances in place and you’re like YES! And then the next thing is like OH NO, now I have to actually do this… (Edie laughing)

Miles had done it’s kind of like the text, and we had an actor Carl Lumbly voice Miles’s words. So that, it’s kind of that the story is being told from Miles’s point of view a lot of times, and all the words are really Miles’s words.

EDIE: That was, I just thought that was fascinating because as I was listening to it, I said to myself now, when did Miles narrate his own…(laughing) You no, I thought that was just so cool.

NELSON: Yeah, well the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January and you know at the beginning of the film we didn’t say anything about Carl Lumbly and we found that we were constantly getting questions you know, that was one of the first questions we’d get affectionately…Is that Miles? Is that Miles? So, we put a card in at the beginning says that Miles words are his own and their voiced by Carl Lumbly…

EDIE: Right…and you got to get it right, right?

NELSON: Yeah…

EDIE: Now one of the things I found intriguing about the film is the narration, mostly done by Miles himself, but through the sound-alike voice of Carl Lumbly, that right? Tell us how that came about?

NELSON: Well you know Carl, we thought early on that the film could be narrated kind of by Miles himself. We could have Miles narrating and we arranged with the writer, Quincy Troupe who wrote Miles’s autobiography ( inaudible) so we get these tapes… when Quincy did the autobiography he did it by sitting a little cassette recorder on a table and just talking to Miles for hours and hours. See he had (40) forty of these tapes that range from an hour to an hour and a half. And we arranged with Quincy to use them and gather rights to use them. And we got them and for maybe 6-8 months we tried to fashion a narrative out of these tapes, but the sound was bad the mic was bad, and they’d be listening to TVs you know in the background tapes weren’t clean…

EDIE: Yeah and I heard Miles was eating at some point…

NELSON: Yeah, and Miles, they would order dinner and the doorbell would ring, dinner would come, and they’d keep talking and eating you know. So, at some point we said this is not going to work, I think that was one of the best decisions that we made in making the film and so, we then went to his autobiography and other interviews that

EDIE: (Interrupts) Boy he did a great job!

NELSON: (continues) …so, the people wouldn’t sit there and be thinking you know and not, not watch the film and not listen to them film like their wondering is that Miles, is that Miles. No, he’s incredible and one of the great things for us when we showed the film to Miles’s family and they said, you know that sounds just like Miles…

EDIE: (Interrupts)Well how did you know that that actor

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could sound like Miles, how did you know that?

NELSON: Well Carl Lumbly is an actor that I know Carl a little bit, he did the narration for an earlier film of ours and I know he’s a very good actor and you know we talked to him on the phone, he said he was willing to give it a shot so we sent him some tapes of Miles, you know Miles’s real voice to listen to and then we kind of auditioned him over the phone, he was in California we’re in New York and we just said , you know okay, give it a shot, we felt it was close enough it was passing…(Edie interrupts)

EDIE: Close enough are you kidding! It was (laughing)

NELSON: Yeah we knew after we got in the studio we worked some and we said slow it down, don’t be so southern, all those kind of little things that if got even closer it would be okay…but we were very nervous about it…you know

EDIE: I’m sure he wished he had not talked, but you know…How can you tell Miles Davis not to talk.

NELSON: Right, right!

EDIE: I’m wondering about Mr. Troupe’s autobiography of Miles was that used sort of like a Bible to you?

NELSON: Well we figured that was Miles’s autobiography and I made the decision that within the film we could use those as Mile’s words, because that’s what they are…

EDIE: And that’s what I like, I like to hear what he said about himself or what he said to somebody else about himself and he talked to Mr. Troupe through that autobiography and using that as a guide, must have been awesome for you.

EDIE: You can tell him that he fooled me and I…(laughing)

NELSON: He’s done of couple of Q&A’s with us in California and he’s just been great, and he’s really proud of his work…(inaudible)

EDIE: He should be, and you know another thing, I did hear about this story of how Miles lost his voice through another documentary that I saw on Chaka Kahn, because Chaka had the same operation that he had, and she had heard about what he did, by talking when he wasn’t supposed to talk and how he ruined his voice, could you kind of elaborate on that for our audience?

NELSON: Yeah Miles had an operation which in fact my understanding it’s not in some ways that…it shouldn’t have to be that serious but you know, as close as I can come is to say they were removing palates from his throat, I mean this was early on in the 50s and the doctor said okay you know you cannot talk you have to just let it heal for a couple of weeks, you can’t talk and something happen and Miles got mad at somebody and yelled at him and (using Miles’s voice) his voice just became just like that, for the rest of his life, that was Miles’s voice. So, we tell that story in the film because we thought you know everybody kind of wonders why Miles talks like that and most people don’t know why. It wasn’t an affect; it wasn’t something he was doing to be cool; his voice is like that for the rest of his life.

NELSON: Yeah it was great! And you know the great thing about the autobiography is that is was written later in Miles’s life as Miles starts to kind of look back on his life and is very open about some of the mistakes he made and other things in his life so, you know he’s very honest, very candid, he also, you know uses that salty language that Miles always use doesn’t pull any punches so, we thought it was great. One of the funny things that happened in the film is that whenever people tell stories about Miles when it came to be the time for them to talk about him, they would always go into his voice.

EDIE: Umm Umm They do everybody does that. (laughing)

NELSON: And finally, we noticed that the first three or four people that we interviewed did it we said...

EDIE: Hey don’t do that…(laughing)

NELSON: …if you’re telling a story and it you say Miles said this, just go into the voice that you can because people have already established that it’s the best feature in the film, so we better stay with it.

answered those two things in your documentary. And one of them was the story of Dr. Davis and Miles when Dr. Davis went to New York to bring Miles home, could you tell us about that story?

NELSON: Yes, you know Miles goes to Paris in 1949 and falls in love with Juliette Greco, French singer and actress (inaudible) it’s actually very short because he was only there for a couple of weeks, a very hot and heavy relationship. He also sees a different way that the world can relate to him as a black man and as a black jazz musician. He’s finding you know, celebrated there in Paris and coming back to the United States, Kenny Clark went over there with him and stayed, he said “Miles you shouldn’t even go back, I’m going to stay”. So, Miles goes back, he’s from the United States, you know, that’s his home, so he comes back and kind of spirals into his depression a downward spiral starts using drugs and get into a heavy drug habit and ends up going back to East St. Louis because he… the word has gotten out that Miles is in really bad shape, and his Father comes from East St. Louis, as Jimmy Heath says in the film. “I was on the bandstand with Miles at that time” Jimmy Heath tells the story of how they’re playing, and Miles Father just takes him off the bandstand…

NELSON: Right Jimmy Heath says he left the horn right there, his father said “No you’re coming with me we’re going home".

EDIE: Wow

NELSON: Them Miles goes home and finally (inaudible) locks himself in the house for over a week and just kicks cold turkey (inaudible) cold turkey and comes back to New York and come back with a vengeance comes back with some decree.

EDIE: Yeah, exciting story and I didn’t know exactly how it went down, you know, I didn’t know that Dr. Davis actually went up on stage and got the boy off the stage, I’m like (what?) And what did Miles say in that narration, on his way back he felt like a little boy.

NELSON: Yeah, he said he felt like a little boy and he says it’s probably the last time in his life he ever felt like that. Kind of like the little boy being taken home by his Daddy…

EDIE: Yeah, if you remember at the Q&A after the…I’ve gone to see this film twice and I think it was the first time I went, Mayor Parks, the former Mayor of East St. Louis, Mayor Parks got up and said to you and I’m paraphrasing that, having that film in East St. Louis for young people to see is going to be a motivational tool for them. That film in East St. Louis to show to our youth is going to be very very powerful and we can’t thank you enough for doing it.

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EDIE: Another one of the stories that I had always been curious about is… I wondered about the love affair between Francis and Miles Davis…I LOVED the WAY THEY LOVE. (giggle) and I just really enjoyed her she was definitely a character in the film and the music that came out of that love, Flamenco Sketches, and Fran Dance and Someday My Prince Will Come. I’ve loved those songs all of my life, just the mere fact that Miles Davis was Frances’s prince it just let me know early in life that black people can have a Prince too you know what I’m saying…and to hear her talk about that…Oh it just meant a lot to me. That scene where Miles is standing up under his name in New York at one of the clubs that he was performing at, and the Police hits him in the head because he wouldn’t move along like he asked him to and Francis comes down and rescues her man from

the big bad police officers. (Edie laughs) Now that’s just my fantasy part of that story but I just want you to know that telling that entire story meant a lot to me because oh it wasn’t all peaches and cream, let me ask you this… did Miles’s children have any input in what to put in and what not to put in?

NELSON: No, No Miles family did not, they were cooperative with us we made the film with their blessings, but after they gave the blessings, they did not see the film until we had finished and I sent them a cut of the film. So, no they were not, they had no influence over this, the contents of the film, at all, and it is a good thing, you don’t want the family influencing the direction of the film.

company put a white woman on the cover of Miles Ahead and he protest that (Edie Laughs) I don’t want to give it away but it’s hilarious what he does and you know, in a typical Miles Davis way, and then when he comes out with “Someday My Prince will Come” he has Francis on the cover. Yeah look Francis was one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life. (EDIE (Interrupting) Me too! I mean, I’m a woman and I will say that.) Nelson continues… you can’t believe how beautiful she was. I remember sitting there looking at my Father’s cover of “Someday My Prince Will Come” I might have been 10 you know (as far as) I didn’t even know what I was looking at, I was just looking at her I was like Dang, there’s something here.

EDIE (Interrupts): I mean Miss Fine right?

EDIE: Right because you want the truth in the film and that’s exactly what you did.

NELSON: Yeah, Yeah, I mean I was very nervous about how they were going to see the film, cause as you say it’s a kind of worse and all portrait of Miles, we don’t shy away from his abusive relationship with women, or his use of drugs and those kind of things. Miles could be a very hard person to kind of get along with, but they loved it from the moment we sent them the cuts, they never said change a word, they said we love it let’s go and they’ve been incredible I mean as you saw it, they flew with us to East St. Louis and to St. Louis their in Atlanta now we’re going to New Orleans tomorrow they did L.A. they flew to New York for the opening they’ve been the stanches supporters of the film of anybody they’ve been incredible, doing Q&A’s and all that.

EDIE: (And you know just to see…Just for them to be okay with the fact that Miles left his family in East St. Louis and you know that whole bit. But what was good for me to see was the fact that Okay, he left his lady in East St. Louis goes to New York City makes it big and then…what I was happy about is the fact that Francis was a black woman, you know because a lot of entertainers back in the day, when they got on top they would have white women with them, but Miles was, I just thought that was so cool it was so heartening for me and that why the whole love affair between Francis and Miles Davis is a great story for me and the fact that he chose as his queen, he chose a black woman as his queen, and I like that.

NELSON: She’s grabbing looks! It’s hard to explain you’ll have to see the film because she’s hilarious, open and honest and just really a trip, she’s a trip.

EDIE: She was my favorite in the whole film, now is she still with us today?

NELSON: No Francis actually passed away last Thanksgiving, umm just two days after Thanksgiving, she passed away. Unfortunately, she never got to see the film, and one thing we all lament you know the family and everybody around the film … I mean could you imagine doing a Q&A with Francis? (Edie & Nelson laugh together) it would have been hysterical, she’s really funny.

EDIE: She was something else, and I’m so glad you were able to get that before she passed away… (NELSON: Yeah, yeah, she was great.) You know, I’m reading a book right now called “Three Wishes”, and it’s about… Have you heard of that book?

NELSON: No, I don’t think so

EDIE: Yeah, it’s about great jazz artist from back in the day and the author of the book went around and asked each musician if they had three wishes what would those wishes be, and she asked everybody Miles, and everybody is in this book. And I’m not going to tell you what Miles said, he had three words and not even going to tell you on-mic.

heard the rancor from that… (Edie and Nelson laugh together inaudible)

EDIE: What I did want to say about this book is the essence of the entire book and some of the things the artists said answering the question of the three wishes seem like everybody was saying that one of the things they wished is for their music to be legit and for them to be accepted. Oh and it just, I know it just strikes me as so sad in a way that these great musicians from back in the day, it made me feel bad for them because they were such great artist and doing such great musician majesty that they all felt that way…and even Miles going away to Europe and then coming back home and seeing wow, look at how their treated, and look at how they look at us, you know. So, it’s amazing your film awakened that with me as well.

EDIE: I wanted to ask you this, noticeably Ms. Cecily Tyson was not…well she was shown in the film, but you didn’t have any words from her.

NELSON: Yeah, you know, we couldn’t get Cecily to sit down and be interviewed, she is in the process of writing her own autobiography, we just couldn’t pin her down, but we tried, we tried everything we possibly could, but you know she’s talked about in the film, we do talk about her and Miles talks about her in his own words, other people talk about how she kind of rescued Miles from horrible drug period from 75-81 when Miles didn’t , as he said pick up his horn for 4 of those years didn’t even touch his horn he didn’t play any concerts didn’t do anything really just in his house and just kind of drugged out. Interesting she’s part of the rescue squad, you know one of those people responsible for Miles coming back to life from 81-90 on the last 10 years of his life (inaudible)

EDIE: Yeah, I’ve heard some stories from musicians who visited Miles during those times, and they were some really eye-opening events that happened, but she was very instrumental in getting him out of that funk…What was your favorite thing in the film?

NELSON: My favorite thing…I think you know, my favorite thing was just being given honor to do a film about Miles Davis and to be immersed in Miles music for a couple of years and meeting you know, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter, and Jimmy Cobb, and Francis Taylor and George (inaudible) and all those people, it was just incredible! I find it incredible that Wayne Shorter knows my name. (Edie & Nelson laugh together)

EDIE: Let me ask you that, you know he played with all the best musicians, well as a mater of fact he made them…no, I won’t say that either, I won’t say that because…

NELSON: Well he sure did help; he helped their careers in many ways.

EDIE: Right so, when you asked to talk to these people was there any problem, did Herbie say, “Oh No, I don’t have time to talk to you”.

NELSON: No I don’t think anybody said that…the main problem was just pinning them down, a lot of these guys are super, super, super, busy still, a lot of them still go to this…they do this kind of concert tour in Europe in the Summer that’s were they’ve gone) they’re still gigging they’re still recording, and so, how do you pin them down, that was really the thing for us. You know it’s just making a (inaudible) film, you don’t want to try to shoot one interview a day, you’ve got to try to do three to four interviews in a day, so how do you get Herbie Hancock and then get another couple of people and do that same day, because you know you’re paying the crew the cameras and sound person assistant camera and all those people by the day, so you want to try to load up in the day and so if Herbie Hancock say ok “I can do February 12 th at noon so then we’ll have to find somebody to do that same day at 9 and somebody else that same day at 3 and kind of fill the day, that was kind of our struggle.

EDIE: Now your company Firelight Films have announced an upcoming film to be released on PBS in 2021 tell us about Creating the New World (the Transatlantic Slave Trade)?

NELSON: Yeah that’s a film I’ve been thinking about for years it’s a 4-hour series on the transatlantic slave trade I’m looking at the trade the trade of human beings as a business that changed the world that we live in. So, we’re looking at the economics of the trade how it affected shipping, how it affected insurance, how it affected banking (EDIE: WOW) how it changed the makeup of the world how slave trade invented the whole idea of race it was invented to justify the slave trade. It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking for us and we’re very excited about it. We’ve raised the money to do it, so it’s not just a fantasy it is happening as we speak. We haven’t started shooting yet but we’re looking forward to it, part of like once again it’s like Miles like Oh, now that we’ve got the money

Okay now what do we do. (EDIE Interrupts: Now what, I think that…) NELSON Continues: This is a hard one because 95% is pre- photography you know so using a lot of paintings and drawings and diaries and other things, some re-creations and some great interviews but we’re just…

EDIE: Yeah just reading about it is fascinating…

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NELSON: Yeah, it’s an incredible story (inaudible) there’s a lot of scholarship on the slave trade and it hasn’t kind of filtered down to the general public so we can open a lot of people’s eyes. But we want to make the slave

trade one of the cornerstones of the world that we live in. Where we live is (inaudible) there’s some black and brown people and unless they are native people, they got here, or their ancestors got here because of the trade of human beings.

EDIE: I Think this is gonna be really exciting and for you to say you haven’t started yet and you’re already announced when it will be released. That’s amazing! (Edie laughs)

EDIE: Is it really the way it works

NELSON: Yeah, yeah…

EDIE: Why did I think you had to finish the project first?

NELSON: Umm Well you know, no. You don’t have time if you finish the project then you announce it and you might be on the air in two or three months, you know, this is a huge undertaking we’re gearing up, PBS is gearing up we want the local stations to gear up (EDIE: Okay) incredible amount of research. To give you and idea we got a grant to do research and we held 4 convening of the top scholars of the slave trade around the world and we held the first meeting at Brown University in Providence, the Center for the City of Slavery. We’re partnering with them and we met at Brown we brought experts from all across the United States to be apart of that, a couple of people came in from Brazil. Then we had another convening in Amsterdam we brought a European Scholar to talk about the trade… then we had a convening in Johannesburg South Africa where we brought more scholars, African Scholars namely to come and talk about the trade and then we had another convening in New York. So you know I mean that this is a massive huge undertaking so that’s why we announce when it will be just to kind of clear room for it, because we’re hoping it’s going to be a big thing and look at the role of enslavement of people in this trade in a whole new light and give it the importance it should be given.

EDIE: Now what’s the one that’s been tugging at you from day one that documentary that you really want to do but can’t seem to get there. What does that look like?

NELSON: I don’t know I use to say I wanted to do a film on James Brown and I still would love to, one was done a couple of years ago, but I still think there’s room for another one. But, I’m just so happy and excited about the Miles film that I’m not looking to jump into another music film right away. But you know I’ve been very lucky in the last few years , we just got a contract to do a film on Harriet Tubman and another film on Frederik Douglas from Maryland Public TV and it will be on TBS so you know what can be better than to do a film on those two icons. So, you know we’re just jugging away. (cross talk)

EDIE: You’re making all of us smarter…You’re making all of us smarter.

EDIE: Here’s a question I used to ask back in the day. You’re given a round trip ticket to heaven and you can visit three in your case historical people, three historical people that you’ve always wanted to talk to who would those people be and why …what would you say to them?

NELSON: Who knows, I don’t know what I would say but one’s got to be Miles, because I’ve been working on Miles and so I would love to see what that was really like. And I guess it would be icons of religion, I would love to see who Jesus Christ really was and I would like to see who Mohammad really was…You know those things would be …and I would also be able to come back and tell people…EDIE…(Yeah laughingly) NELSON Continues: And here is what they are really like.

EDIE: Very good…you know in my opinion Mr. Nelson you have opened Miles’s heart in this film, for the first time we’re allowed to look inside and see the entirety of what made Miles Davis Miles Davis. And to me the scene where Dr. Davis went on that stage and got his son and brought him back to East St. Louis, to me that was what made Miles, Miles, having a father like Dr. Davis because in a lot of ways Miles is just like his Dad, and one day maybe somebody will write that story, but that’s just my opinion. (Edie laughs)

NELSON: Oh, thank you so much, I’m so glad you did it’s really good to know you and let’s keep it going.

EDIE: Oh Absolutely, now Miles Davis Birth of the Cool, directed by Mr. Stanley Nelson still being held at the Tivoli Theatre 6350 Delmar Blvd. in the loop and the film is one hour and 55 minutes long but it just breezes right through, and it’s absolutely beautiful with pictures and the music and its just awesome, and I think its going to be here till the 19 th ?

NELSON: Ahh…well that’s news to me…

EDIE: You don’t know you’ve done your part?

NELSON: Oh no we’re moving so fast the film opens today in Baltimore, Atlanta and New Orleans and I’m going to New Orleans tomorrow to talk about the film , we’ve got people in Baltimore and in Atlanta and stuff, (inaudible) on this treadmill, it’s a great treadmill to be on but you know we’re moving quick and sometimes we’re making calls and saying you’re still in St. Louis, what’s going on. So, it’s great, its great…(inaudible)

EDIE: Now you can read more about the documentary online just google Mr. Stanley Nelson Miles Davis Birth of the Cool, and it pops right up.

yahoo images

NELSON: They can reach me at info@firelightmedia.org info@firelightmedia.org

NELSON: You got a point

EDIE: Anyway, I’m so glad I got this opportunity to talk to you I’m glad I was brave enough to go up to and introduce myself which actually brought on this interview and I appreciate that.

EDIE: Ok…Now I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about your awesome crew…as a matter of fact I looked at the picture of you and the people who work behind you…they’re all women! All women of beautiful colors and oh hairstyles and all of that! I’m like…no wonder his documentaries are so good and so heartfelt.

NELSON: Well yeah. What we believe at Firelight is that people should tell their own stories and we try to put our theory into practice so we hire a lot of people of color and we also run a thing we call the “Documentary Lab” where we work with filmmakers of color… 10 -15 filmmakers only have one time to get their films made and done and on the air and it was very successful we have a film called “Always in Season” about lynching, done by an African American woman who won the special “Jury

Prize” at Sundance this year we had another alumni that won two prizes a Sundance this year, so you know we’re just kickin you know and trying to… they let me get my foot in the door and I’m trying to hold it open for people to get in.

EDIE: So, what is it…is it no men allowed in your group or what…(Laughing)…I’m just teasing…

NELSON: NO, I don’t want to be like that, yeah but we do have lots of men. You know I think that, this would be a much longer discussion but, there’s a lot more women of color out there in the film industry than there are of men and we’re an equal opportunity employer. So, we don’t like to look at it as we got too many women, we’re like ok we want the most qualified people we can and one thing we do try to do whenever we can is work with people of color.

EDIE: Thank You so much Mr. Stanley Nelson

NELSON: Thank You I really appreciate it and if anybody want to find information about the film they can go

to milesdavismovie.com and that tells about where the film is screened all over the country in St. Louis and East St. Louis but also everywhere text milesdavismovie.com and you can find out any information about where this film is and where it is screening.

EDIE: Very Good, for ARTS_TODAY Magazine and 88ond KDHX we want to thank you so much Mr. Stanley Nelson, we really appreciate you talking to us today

NELSON: My pleasure thank you so much.

EDIE: Thank you bye bye!

An Interview with Documentarian Stanley Nelson /Director of Miles Davis (Birth of the Cool) By: Author, Playwright, Radio Personality Edie Anderson (aka) Your Lady Edie Bee of 88one KDHX for ARTS_TODAY NEWSZINE

Edie Anderson (aka) Your Lady Edie Bee has been pre-eminent in the field of jazz and R&B in St. Louis for years as one of its most popular hosts and promoters. She has taken the lead in jazz appreciation and presentation in various positions with leading St. Louis Radio stations, hosting her own very popular shows showcasing the best in jazz. From the standpoint of the experience that Edie has—and in the truest spirit of love for music and enjoyment of radio and its associated facets—she feels ready to continue her career in radio with the presentation of new challenges. BIO

After many years off air “Your Lady Edie B.” is once again host of her own straight-ahead jazz show R.S.V.P (Rare Songs, Very Personal) aired live each Sunday now from 10pm till midnight on 88one KDHX FM in St. Louis MO. She has also added “Playwright” to her resume with the writing of her first stage play, “Jazz in My Soul/a Marvin Gaye Fantasy”, now in book form. Bringing Jazz & Community together has always been Edie’s goal, she is now CEO of JIMS Inc., and founder of the National Jazz Heritage Foundation in her home city, she also serves as a board member of the National Black Radio Hall of Fame. Edie is married to jazz musician (bass & sax) Jeffrey Anderson of St. Louis MO.

BIO

Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. (born June 7, 1951) is an American documentary filmmaker and a Macarthur “genius” fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Among his notable films are Freedom Riders (2010), Wounded Knee (2009), Jonestown: The Life & Death of People’s Temple (2006), Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice (2005), A Place of Our Own (2004),The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (1998), The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (2017), Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019) and Boss: The Black Experience in Business (2019)